Children of the Universe
by Wacko101
Summary: When Krolia was a kit, she had heard fairy tales of Voltron, with the five brave paladins and the magical princess. But those were just fairy tales. Now, however, everyone knew of Voltron and the Castle of Lions and the five brave paladins and the magical princess. Only now Krolia must come to terms with her son being one of those five paladins.


Krolia had heard about Voltron.

When she was a kit, she had heard the fairytales about princesses and brave paladins that saved entire planets. She had heard about the most powerful weapon ever created, and how it was a beacon of hope in the universe.

And then she had grown up.

From the streets of a lawless planet where she fought to survive, she had joined the Blade of Marmora. They had rescued her, and in return, she went on missions for them, they became her family.

But suddenly the fairytales of Voltron became all too real.

Apparently, the weapon existed, and the witch Haggar had her eyes set on finding it.

Krolia was skeptical about such a thing existing, but if it did exist, they could not let the empire get their hands on it. A weapon of untold power in the hands of Zarkon would only lead to their utter defeat.

But the empire had been searching for Voltron since the first days of their reign; surely if Voltron did exist, it would have been found by now.

Years later, long after she had crash-landed on a planet called Earth and long after she had left the planet, void of her Marmora blade and sporting a broken heart, she stared at a transmission that seemed to call for the end of the universe.

"The Red Lion has been found."

The news was everywhere, every transmission, every channel. The Red Lion was on its way to Zarkon.

And then suddenly it wasn't.

Someone who was not of the Blade had stolen the Red Lion right from under Zarkon's nose.

It was a miracle, Krolia had been one of many spies that had sent a risky but urgent message to the Blade, and the Blade would have no doubt lost members trying, and possibly failing, to take the lion back.

Even if they had been able to retrieve the lion, they would not have been able to do anything with it. It was one of five pieces, still incredibly powerful separately, but together... together they had the power to end the war once and for all.

0o0

The whispers started first.

Small outposts on the edge of the solar system were going silent, ships never arriving at their destinations.

From foot soldiers to generals, there was an uneasy feeling in the air.

Rumors were filtering in from the edges of the galaxy.

Whispers were swirling around the entire empire.

And they all whispered one thing.

Voltron has awoken.

0o0

There were no more whispers.

Voltron had made its appearance known, once and for all.

A flying castle flanked by five flying lions would swoop down from the stars and free entire worlds.

It was starting to sound like the fairytales of her childhood.

0o0

There has always been a bit of truth to fairytales.

Krolia had been told as a kit the story of Voltron.

She had heard about the Princess who had magic. And the five paladins who harnessed the power of the universe at their fingertips. A power that only they were chosen to wield, a power that was said to be the very universe itself is sentient form.

She wondered how much truth was in these fairy tales.

0o0

And then, one day, Zarkon was dead.

Killed not by Voltron, but by his son instead.

And she wondered distantly how such a thing was possible.

Maybe there were more tall tales in her childhood stories then she had been allowing herself to believe.

0o0

Keith was standing in front of her.

He was as tiny as his father had been, if not smaller if such a thing was even possible for a human who had just reached adulthood.

He was staring at her in shock, and she too did not know where to go from here.

She had been so focused on getting them out alive she had pushed all emotions aside, but now, as they escaped, she could not keep her happiness or her sorrow, at bay.

He had questions she was sure, questions she was not sure how to answer. But she would try. She truly no longer had the willpower to leave him again.

0o0

They went back to the Blade in silence. Keith was obviously in inner turmoil and Krolia did not want to push him.

Slowly, very slowly, he began to ask her questions. And once he started, it seemed as though it was hard for him to stop.

She had her questions for him, the first one being how to had found himself in space, light-years from Earth.

The story of Voltron suddenly seemed a lot less magical when she discovered that her son had been flying inside one of the lions.

That her son was a paladin.

0o0

It was one of the quieter days. Keith had run out of questions to ask her for the time being and was starting to seek her out more often in the downtime that they had. Usually, these times were spent training or catching up in each other's lives, but today was a day for spending time in each others company.

So they sat in silence, Krolia reading a novel on the device Keith had called an iPad and Keith napping on the couch next to her.

Then there was a beeping sound.

Keith shifted to grab his communicator from his pocket that Krolia had seen him fiddling with on many occasions.

Finally answering the call, and cutting off the incessant beeping, Krolia watched as Keith's face broke out into the happiest smile she had seen on his face since being reunited.

"Lance."

It was just a name, but Keith's eyes lit up in such a way that Krolia knew that she would have to meet this 'Lance' soon.

The smile was quickly gone when the man called Lance answered back.

"There's something wrong with Shiro."

0o0

There was no time to waste when it came to Lance apparently.

Without even looking at Krolia, Keith had gotten up and started walking briskly towards the hangar's where long-distance travel ships were docked.

Lance had continued to talk to Keith but what he said was lost to Krolia as Keith had moved too far away from her to make anything out at that point.

Swiftly she followed after Keith. Catching up easily and keeping pace just as Keith reassured Lance that he was on his way.

"Lance needs my help; I have to go." He told her glancing at her from the corner of his eye as he continued moving as if daring her to try and stop him.

"Of course," She told him. "And I am coming with you."

0o0

Krolia was told by the Blade that the castle from the fairy tale was called the Castle of Lions.

Keith called it home.

0o0

Lance was only slightly taller than Keith was, and it put Krolia's mind at ease to know that Keith was not considered tiny by humans standards, even if he was still smaller than average.

Lance smiled like the sun when he saw Keith exit the ship, not hesitating to walk forwards and engulf her son in a hug. Keith had been expecting it; his arms already open for Lance.

But the reunion was short lived as they remembered what they came here to talk about.

Lance had lots of things to tell.

Lance had been finding and researching on every mission they went on since Shiro had come to him for help.

Lance had a lot of evidence that proved that Shiro was not Shiro.

Keith sat and listened to Lance talk the entire time without saying a word, his shoulders square and lips drew tight "I wanted to tell you first; I felt that you should be the first to know. And, I needed my partner here to help me figure out what to do."

Keith's eyes squeezed closed, fists clenching and back hunching over slightly.

Lance was there in an instant before she even had time to process what was occurring before her eyes.

Tears fell silently from Keith's closed eyes.

"It's going to be okay Keith," Lance said wrapping his arms around Keith again, this time in comfort, "We can figure this out."

0o0

After Keith had composed himself more, he introduced her to Lance properly.

"Your Keith's mom?!"

"Yes, she's my mom. Let's go."

Keith stalked away from the two of them quickly, and Krolia was unsure if he was embarrassed to introduce her to someone who was obviously so vital to him, or uncertain of how to introduce her as his mother to anyone quite yet.

"Don't worry about Keith; he hasn't had a mom for so long, that he probably doesn't know how to act on it now. It doesn't help that he is a little emotionally constipated either, but we're working on it."

She glanced to her right, surprised that Lance had caught on to her inner turmoil.

"It is great to meet you," Lance told her, leading her towards wherever Keith had headed in the Castle. No one but Lance had been there to greet them, so she was assuming this was equivalent to a stealth mission.

"You are not angry at me for leaving him? You care so much for him I thought you would be angry with me."

Lance considered this for a moment. "I am angry at you for leaving him. A lot of people have left Keith, and it tore him up inside. But he still let you back in; he let you come here. You may not have been there for him in the past" Lance said pausing. "But you are here now. And that counts a lot."

0o0

A lion of Voltron was far more magnificent than anything she had been imaging in her head.

It was painted Red, sitting in a large hanger with no other ship in sight. Its dim eyes seemed to watch her as she walked forward towards her son who was laying on the lions massive paw.

Krolia was a battle-hardened warrior, but even so, she felt a shiver of caution, of fear, roll down her spine at the sight of the lion.

As she and Lance approached, she realized that Keith was talking to the lion. He was telling the lion all about what had been going on with him since he had joined the Blade. Every now and again he would pause, as though he had an actual conversation.

And Krolia remembered all the fairytales about Voltron and the sentient lions.

As soon as Lance got close enough, he seemed to join in on the conversation, the two quickly forgetting she was there.

She had stopped in front of the lion, refusing to go under its massive bulk to join the two on the paw, she felt no malice from the lion, but she knew instinctively, that this lion was capable of crushing her without even moving.

How Keith and Lance were unaffected, unconcerned with the power the beast held, was beyond her.

Because it was not a machine. Not really. The metal was a vessel for the power that lay inside, the only thing capable of holding the beast without imploding.

But Keith, Keith was petting the metal of the beast, petting it and still having a conversation with it as though it were a house cat.

It scared her, the line between her fairytales and reality were starting to mix. And she did not know what that meant for her son.

Her son who was chosen out of everyone in the universe, to be bonded to such a godly creature of fire.

0o0

Krolia, Keith, and Lance had confirmed Lance's suspicions about Shiro and had taken the information to Allura and the other paladins while Lance distracted Shiro. Introductions were made, but there was no time to waste, and Keith and herself quickly went over what they had discovered with the others.

They had been horrified and shocked; she had seen Allura, the same magical princess from her childhood fairytale of all things, blink tears from her eyes.

But they were warriors, so they had started to make a plan.

The fake Black Paladin didn't even seem to realize that he was a fake, so they resolved to leave him alone for now. Instead, they would put all their efforts into finding the real Black Paladin without giving anything away to the fake. It would be risky but they had no way of knowing how the fake Black Paladin was controlled, they could not risk losing the upper hand.

Instead, the Black Paladin would be put under constant surveillance without his knowledge.

Krolia did not like the look of despair on Keith's face as this was discussed.

She wished she knew how to comfort him.

She wished Lance was there to do it where she could not.

0o0

They had the Galra Empire cornered. The Rebel Forces and the Blade of Marmora had been able to maneuver the last remains of the once powerful army into a corner and had launched what many hoped to be their last attack.

With the knowledge that the Black Paladin was not the Black Paladin they had been able to orchestrate Keith' arrival back to the Castle of lions, and trick the fake Black Paladin into giving Keith the Black Lion once more.

Krolia was unsure about how she felt knowing her son was now the leader of the most powerful weapon in the universe. Proud was there, but also great fear.

With Voltron now out of fake Shiro's hands, however, they were able to make more confident moves and were able to create plans without the fake being involved and influencing the team's choices.

The coalition and rebels made great strides towards the end of the empire.

And now they were here.

The remains of the fleet packed together and ready to make their last stand against them.

The Galra had not been the most powerful empire in the universe for nothing, however. The remaining forces were putting up a fight, and the battle was raging on.

And then the Castle of Lions arrived.

And five lions came out to join the fight.

0o0

If she thought to be in the same room as one of the Lions showed the true power of Voltron, she was so very wrong.

The lions of Voltron were powerful individually, but they each had their weaknesses, their limits. And while those limits were at times hard to see, they were glaringly apparent once experiencing Voltron for the first time.

Voltron was unlike anything she had ever seen before. All of the lion's weaknesses were gone when combined, each lion's power meshing perfectly with each other to form a power beyond anyone's understanding.

Yellow eyes glowed through the smoke, large metallic body towering over everything in sight despite the fact that it was bent down on one knee, having just finished swatting a battle cruiser out of the sky in only one punch.

Fire and ice danced around the blade, it wielded. The Earth and plants were making way as it walked upon the planet.

Voltron was so much more than the fairytales could have even hoped to make it out to be.

She still felt the fear, looking at the massive being called Voltron as it tore through the remains of the Galra Empire as through the metal was paper. She also felt hope, just like she had when she was a child, staring out at the sky and wondering what it would be like to be a star.

If she were to guess, she would say being a star was a lot like being Voltron.

Pure power, shining brightly out towards the universe to be the light in the dark.

Voltron was the pure power of the universe, more powerful than could ever be expected. Placed into the hearts of metal lions and entrusted to five beings.

The Defenders of the Universe.


End file.
